The National Archives Education Service

Four days’ hard labour

Preparation materials for videoconference/virtual classroom (KS2) Henry Munday’s prison record. He was convicted at Wandsworth Prison in 1873 for Simple Larceny. He had stolen 14 lbs of sugar, and received a whipping and four days’ hard labour as his punishment.

Transcript: PCOM 2/291

Henry Munday’s prison record. He was convicted at Wandsworth Prison in 1873 for Simple Larceny. He had stolen 14 lbs of sugar, and received a whipping and four days’ hard labour as his punishment. Teacher’s notes

Students do not need to do any work in preparation for this videoconference/virtual classroom. However, if there are students who have visual impairments and may have difficulty viewing the screen during the session, please enlarge copies of the documents for them to refer to.

This session will allow students to investigate Victorian attitudes to crime and punishment through a study of original documents. Students will study in detail the prison record of a young boy named Henry Munday which could possibly be used as a stimulus for creative writing to further the students’ learning.

Background information

Henry Munday’s information has been taken from the Record Book of Wandsworth Prison, 1873. This book contains records of people – adults and children – who were convicted. Each record contains a photograph of the prisoner, with details of their name, age, address, crime committed and punishment received.

Henry Munday was convicted in 1873 for Simple Larceny. He had stolen 14 lbs of sugar and for his punishment he received four days’ hard labour and whipping. The youngest convict detailed in this book, was Julia Ann Crumpling, aged 7, who was sentenced to seven days’ hard labour in 1870 for stealing a perambulator.

Wandsworth Prison, along with Coldbath Fields, Tothill Fields and Holloway, was one of London’s Correctional Prisons. Prisons were squalid places, with cells described as ‘whitewashed cubes 7 feet by 13’. The death penalty was imposed for a wide range of offences, with children as young as 12 years being hanged. Those lucky enough to escape execution were often required to do hard labour.

Useful links

To investigate Victorian child criminals further: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/victorian-children-in-trouble/

To study the history of a child convict: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/prisoner4099 Henry Munday’s prison record. He was convicted at Wandsworth Prison in 1873 for Simple Larceny. He had stolen 14 lbs of sugar, and received a whipping and four days’ hard labour as his punishment. Henry Munday’s prison record. He was convicted at Wandsworth Prison in 1873 for Simple Larceny. He had stolen 14 lbs of sugar, and received a whipping and four days’ hard labour as his punishment.

| Name, No. | Henry Munday 5568 | 17 May 73 | |-----------|-------------------|-----------| | and aliases | | |

**Description**

- Age (on discharge): 13
- Height: 4 ft 4 ½
- Hair: Lt. Brown
- Eyes: Blue
- Complexion: Fresh
- Where born: Clapham
- Married or Single: Single
- Trade or occupation: None
- Distinguishing Marks: None

**Address at time of apprehension**: 54 Conroy St. Wandsworth Road

**Place and date of conviction**: Wandsworth 12 May 73

**Offence for which convicted**: Simple Larceny. Stg 14lbs of sugar

**Sentence**: 4 days H.L. and whipped

**Date to be liberated**: 15 May 73

**Intended residence after liberation**: as above

**Previous Convictions**

**Summary**

- By Jury

**Remarks, antecedents etc.**